Walmart to host free health screening event in area

St. Louis area Walmart stores will be host of the first Walmart Wellness Day event of the year on Saturday, Jan. 20.

The free health screening event provides residents an opportunity to learn valuable health information, including blood glucose, blood pressure and more. In select locations, customers can also take advantage of free vision screenings

New this year, Walmart is introducing a virtual reality experience in select stores to assist with smoking cessation. According to the CDC, approximately 22 percent of adults in Missouri and approximately 16 percent of adults in Illinois smoke cigarettes regularly. The free resource is intended to be a step toward quitting tobacco.

Walmart Wellness Day comes on the heels of the company announcing it will be the first national pharmacy chain to offer a free opioid disposal solution at all pharmacy locations that allows patients to responsibly dispose of medications in their trash.

According to the American Physical Therapy Association, one out of every 66 deaths in Missouri were due to opioid overdose in 2016 and of 2,000-plus overdose deaths in Illinois in 2016, more than 80 percent were opioid-related.